Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to: an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or an image processing apparatus; a set values update method for the information processing apparatus; and a recording medium.
Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
It takes so much time and effort to perform a program update and set values updates by working on every information processing apparatus on-site. To solve this problem, there are various methods of performing network updates.
In such a method, it is very common that a software developer prepares a new version of program and a software vendor customizes new set values for their individual customers. As a matter of course, such a new version of program and such new set values are stored on different locations (servers) and thus need to be mutually linked.
According to Japanese Patent No. 4021407, a new version of program and new set values are mutually linked by version information of program and title of settings information. When a user intends to perform set values updates with new set values downloaded from an external server, control is performed such that a new version of program is downloaded depending on the need for a program update.
In Japanese Patent No. 4021407, a new version of program, which has a great volume, is downloaded when a user intends to perform set values updates. This can cause poor levels of performance being achieved specifically during the busy time when users flock to a server. This is an unsolved problem.
Control can be performed such that downloading a new version of program is completely out of synchronization with downloading new set values. This means, a new version of program can be downloaded when users do not flock to a server and this is a possible solution to the above-described problem.
In this possible solution, in a case where there is a time interval between downloading a new version of program and downloading new set values, new set values already downloaded can be used only after a new version of program is downloaded, which causes a failure to make effective use of new set values. This is another unsolved problem.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.